Ollantaytambo & Machu Picchu
Well, I don't think you could have a more amazing few days than we've had! We took a combi - a 15 passenger van from Cuzco to Ollantaytambo. Once out of Cuzco, the "road" was dirt, more potholes than smooth surface, one lane, and seemingly made up of only blind curves. The driver did 45-50 mph the whole time! Oh, and it's the rainy season, so there were huge puddles everywhere, but that didn't concern him either. I know there are many of you at home who think I'm a crazy driver, but trust me, I look like a grandma in a Cadillac compared to this guy!
Thanks to Speedy Gonzalez we got to Ollantaytambo in one hour. We wandered around for a bit. It's a very small town and one of the only towns left that is still laid out in the same grid system established by the Incas, with the same narrow cobblestoned streets.
There are ruins at Ollantaytambo that in any other country would be a main attraction. But because this place is so close to Machu Picchu, they are often overlooked. An anthropologist in Lima told us we really shouldn't miss these, so we decided to spend a couple days here.
This is where Manco Inca fled from Pizzaro & his troops. A fortress had been built here, and Manco Inca had one of his greatest victories here. There is a series of 13 massive terraces leading up to the fortress on the top of the mountain. There are also lookout posts across the valley that can see up the river, and gave Manco plenty of warning that the Spanish were coming. When they arrived, the Incas showered the Spanish soldiers with arrows and boulders from on top of the terraces. Manco had stolen a Spanish horse, and had somehow gotten the horse up on the highest terrace and was proudly marching back & forth when the Spanish arrived. (Don't ask me how he got that horse up there. I don't want to know.) Then in a brilliant move, he used the excellent water engineering of the complex, and flooded the valley below. The Spanish and their horses were so bogged down in the muck, that they had to retreat.
The main ruins are very well preserved, and you have to pay to enter. But on the other side of the valley, right above our hostel where we were camped, are other ruins - the lookout posts and grain storage facilities. These are not monitored by anyone and are free for people to explore. These were our favorites and we got some amazing pictures.
We took the train from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu pueblo - or Aguas Calientes. This is as touristy a town as you can imagine, and as soon as you get off the train, they bombard you with offers for taxis, hotels, restaurants, knick knacks, massages, guides for Machu Picchu, and plenty more.
Luckily we knew we were staying at the municipal campground and we had food to cook. It was pouring rain, and we tried to get settled in and dried off as best we could. The campground is incredible, a huge field right on the river's edge, and you can look straight up and see Machu Picchu! We put our tent in the only place without standing water - right by the river, under a big tree. We cooked our dinner and began to eat, but we both really wanted some salt. The campground was supposed to have kitchen facilities, but there were none that we could find and no one to ask. Next door was a butterfly sanctuary, and they had a tiny abandoned, filthy kitchen in the back. We figured maybe that was what the book was talking about, and there was salt in there, so Jonathan crept over in the dark with his headlamp on and took a handful of salt. Next thing we know a woman shows up asking us what the hell we were doing breaking into her kitchen trying to steal things! This turned out to be the woman who runs the campground, and after rapidly apologizing and explaining in our bad Spanish what we were doing, she immediately warmed up to us and stayed and had dinner and chatted for a long time. As she was leaving, she told us that there was a possibility that the river would rise and flood our tent. If it was going to rise, she would get a phone call and then blow a whistle. If we heard the whistle, then we had about 2 mins to move all our stuff before it got washed away.
Needless to say, we didn't sleep much, and at one point the train came by and blew its whistle and woke me up with a panic! But all was fine.
We planned to get up at 4:25 the next morning in able to be on the trail hiking up to Machu Picchu before 5. That way we would definitely get there by 6, when the gates open, and be able to see the sunrise.
Most people take a comfy bus up the mountain (about a half hour ride) but you can walk up just like the Incas did, on a trail that they made. It is not technically hard, just straight up for 2km on stone stairs, and it takes about an hour.
We arrived at 5:45, sweaty and exhausted, but we were the first ones in at 6! There was already a long line behind us, but we were able to see Machu Picchu as the sun rose, with no one else there. Completely magical!
The photos of Machu Picchu really don't do it justice, because it is so massive! It just goes on and on, and is saddled between these two giant mountains, way up in the clouds, with completely vertical drop offs all around. It is so unreal that they could build such a masterpiece in this place, and that it is still in such beautiful shape today.
The mountain at the rear of Machu Picchu is called Huaynapicchu (or Wayna Picchu.) You can hike up to the top of this mountain, but they only let 400 a day up there. You also have to sign your life away before you do it! We went up a little before 7am. It is another 2km up, and it is steep!! But we just went slowly, stopping every couple hundred feet to catch our breath stare at our surroundings with our mouths open. Beautiful doesn't even come close to describing it. It is absolutely sublime.
Coming back down Wayna Picchu is even trickier, since it is so steep. The Incas definitely had little feet. The stone steps that they made so beautifully would fit a woman's size 5 or 6. I am more like a 9 1/2 or 10, and poor Jonathan could fit about half of his feet on these little steps. So it was slow going, but we weren't in any hurry, and we made it eventually.
The only thing that bothered me as we did these hikes and walked around the site, was the trash. There wasn't tons of trash, but there was quite a bit. What kind of person goes to Machu Picchu, of all places, and litters?? It is just unfathomable to me, and in such a setting is seems obscene somehow.
We kept exploring the ruins, but everywhere you go are flights of steep stairs, and our legs were starting to scream at us. Around noon we walked the 2km back down to our campsite and enjoyed the cold showers!
Tomorrow we will head to the little town of Santa Theresa were there are natural hot springs. Our feet and legs deserve a good soak!
No comments:
Post a Comment